Rapture
by TheFinalOrder
Summary: It happened so suddenly. Within the span of one second, their escape had been cut off. Black and Red filled the skies as heat brushed against their skin. In that moment of glory, fear had stuck his metal heart. Realization that they were stuck in Sayoko's nightmare forever.
1. Mission Failed

W **elcome. Hope you enjoy. All that good stuff.**

I **generally respond to any type of comment, besides spam. Be it if you leave a Review, have an idea, wish to give advice or even just chat, I respond always in the next chapter at the very bottom.**

\--

Not much can be said about how the world works, nor how time flows. It isn't because a lack of words that these explanations can't be achieved, but a lack of knowledge. To this day, this knowledge has been kept away from us, only allowing theories and speculation to be the key to the mysteries of time. It is for good reason that we are kept in the dark.

One of the many theories relating to time wound be that of the Multiverse. The theory, in its simplest form, would describe the differences in interactions between point A and point B. In point A, C and B would be friends. In point B, B and C would be friends.

From the smallest detail, to the catastrophe of the century. From a simple "Hi" to a violent kick to the head. The Multiverse is a collection of differences spanning eternity and lasting eternity.

For clarification, one Universe may have a child, by the ripe age of 16 fighting for the entire universe, to save his father and those he holds dear, with a happy ending at the end.

Another could be that of a shallow copy, fighting to save his Grand-Father in a bid for the world. A fight that'll not only answer the universes woes, but set The Lifemaker straight. A ending with that akin to bittersweet awaiting us.

Lastly, a world where the worst case scenario happened, but no answer could be found. A world where the hero couldn't rewind time, and was forced to stay within the confines of a world where the dead walk freely, spreading their cursed disease. This is their story of survival.

\--

His screams pierced the silence that befell the aftermath of the battlefield. The form of mangled flesh that once resided on the blimp slowly dissipating into white petals, the wind softly picking up the remnants and carrying them blissfully away.

He tightly hugged the corpse of his best friend to his chest. Tears ran down his cheeks, his voice cracking with each time he cried her name. Curses of broken promises and unfilled wishes repeated each other as, like the body of flesh on the blimp, she too disappeared.

If Tõta had to be honest, it made his throat clench uncomfortably. Stealing a glance at Kuromaru, his best friend, he silently wondered if he would be acting the same in Santa's situation.

Of course he would.

But right now wasn't about him. It was about Santa.

As the last of Sayoko's petals left Santa's grasp, his cries died down. A chime that wasn't meant to be played woefully in the distance, almost like a final farewell from the woman herself.

Tõta walked to Santa, who held in his hand two petals. Giving them but a glance, he came to a realization of sorts.

Tõta placed a hand on Santa's shoulder, kneeling down.

"Tõta…" Santa squeaked out, his normally raspy voice cracking with each letter. Tõta didn't pay it much heed. Anybody would be shaken up by this event.

"Hold onto those, Santa." Tõta said. Santa only softly clenched his hand. Tõta didn't need a response to know Santa heard him. Looking to the side, he gave a questioning look to UQ No. 9, Kirië Sakurame. "Kirië, will that work?"

"Y-Yes, if her soul is still around, then I can still take her back." Kirië responded, taking steps towards Tõta.

"Good, Lets do this."

Kirië Sakurame, UQ Holder No. 9, has the ability to rewind time. Utilizing a save point system, not that unlike a video game, she can "Respawn" of any place of her choosing. Her soul and memories, alongside those of her companions, will remain intact, while all actions after the save point will be erased and physical conditions reset.

"Wait, Tõta! You want to take her back with us!? No, it's too dangerous!" Karin Yuuki, UQ Holder No. 4, yelled from her position on the blimp. Being the self made leader, which no one objected too, she often was the voice of reason within the group. That being said, it was obvious that she would be the first to deny a necromancer at a chance at life once again.

"But this is the only chance Santa can have at saying goodbye! Wouldn't you want to do the same if it was Yukihime!" Tõta yelled back. It wasn't any secret that Karin held some sort of love for Tõta's step-mother. The reason why, nobody knew, and it wasn't their business to pry. Using that against her seemed to do the trick though as Karin flinched and backed down.

"She's right though, Tõta!" Ikkuu Ameya, UQ Holder No. 10, backed Karin up. His appearance was that of a 26 year old, which gained him a lot of favors in trying to convince those who looked younger. That, however, didn't work in the case of immortals. Especially since everyone knew his mental age was 13. "If we bring her back, wouldn't that also bring her powers back too!?"

"It'll be fine, guys. If that happens, we'll just start all over again." Tõta said, not backing down. Both Karin and Ikkū still looked very much against the idea of bringing back the necromancer who caused so much damage to the world. It was understandable. Even Tõta could agree, but this was for Santa, one of his friends. If he wouldn't do this for him, then who would do it for Tõta?

"But what about Kirië!? She's the one with the ability to reset everything! Your just ignoring her feelings!" Karin said, waving a hand at a troubled Kirië. No doubt she was thinking on whether or not to bring Sayako back with them. Her silence lasted but a mere 30 seconds before she gave a deep sigh and leaned on her waist.

"Fine, I'll do it!" Kirië announced, much to the shock of Karin and Ikkū, and the gratefulness of Santa (who really didn't know what was going on, but just gave a guess) and Tõta.

"Kirië!" Ikkū and Karin yelled in shock that the normally calm and collected girl who never took any risks would do such a thing. Tõta yelled in gratefulness that the girl who he believed hated him would do this for him.

"But!" Kirië put a finger up, signaling she had more to say. "If anything happens, you will be responsible for fixing it!"

"Yeah!" Tõta yelled as he grabbed onto Santa and proceeded to tell him what was about to happen. Karin gave Kirië an odd look, which Kirië didn't pay any mind too. She knew what Karin was thinking.

"Are you sure about this?" Ikkū asked Kirië. Looking up to him, Kirië egged him to continue. "If Sayoko ends up going on a rampage again, we might not get another chance like this. She would know all our weaknesses and strengths, and I'm pretty sure she could take us out no matter how many of us there are."

"I'm sure it's fine, Ikkū." Kirië shrugged. "If anything happens, I already have the emergency signal set up in the past. HQ will know immediately something is up." Kirië gave a frown at this though. "Although it does bug me at how incompetent we were today. Even you Karin," Karin flinched in shame. "Really, the only one who even did anything was him." Kirië motioned towards Santa.

The sad fact was, that was true. Even though the team had been hired to take care of a series of murders, not only did they fail at taking care of the murderer, but they had caused the destruction of the world and left it all to one child to end it for them. Truly, this was a horrible outcome, even if they could rewind time.

They all considered this for a second. Everyone in the team had failed this mission. Karin had been buried 1000m underground. Kuromaru had been possessed, not once, but twice. Ikkū had his body turned to scrap metal (which he clicked his tongue at. He knew he should have brought a better model). Tõta had his regenerative abilities shut down and forced to await rebirth before going back into combat. Even Kirië, who shouldn't have been there to begin with, was possessed, same as Kuromaru.

"Well, no use dwelling on the past!" Kirië said as she walked over to Tõta, who held out his hand. Grasping it, Kirië gave the others a look. One by one, the others grabbed hold of her, preparing for the jump through time. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" Tõta said eagerly.

"Whenever you are." Ikkū responded politely.

"Hmm." Karin hummed.

A slight nod was all Kuromaru gave.

A tightening of his fist was the response Santa gave..

"Alright!" Kirië softly said. Opening her mouth, she readied herself for the suicide pill. Relatively it was painless, but that feeling of death she had whenever she died was always unpleasant. Like death itself was cradling her before setting her back in life. Truly it was unpleasant.

Then it happened.

It started off as a low hum, a buzzing akin to an annoying bug, before a bright flash of light filled the air. Blinded by the light, Kirië held off chewing the capsule, curious as to what happened. Slowly, it faded into nothing.

Kirië blinked a few times, rubbing away the bright light that blinded her vision. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust, as the sun's light had already prepared her for even more light if needed.

"What the-!?" The voice of Tõta drew her attention. Looking at him, he seemed to be looking off to the side in shock. Or was it fear? Looking in the direction he was staring, she couldn't help her mouth from dropping at what she was shown.

Off in the distance, a few miles away off the shores of the capital, a giant cloud was forming. Black and red converged upward, blocking the sun in a glorious mirage of fire and flame. Heat could be felt even from atop the blimp, burning and drying the skin of the immortals that bore witness to the event.

Pure shock and awe traveled through the group, all to entangled in the sight to say or do anything. For a second, it seemed like the world had stopped, it too taken aback by the explosion. The fire rose and climbed, forming the shape of a mushroom.

Then the silence came to an abrupt stop.

A loud clap, and boom followed the explosion. Gusts of wind, ferocious in its magnitude, shook the blimp and the passengers atop it. Each member of UQ Holder firmly fixated themselves into the ground.

Tõta reversed his grim on his sword, stabbing it into the ground to keep himself in place. Kuromaru was already ahead of him, his arms hugged tightly onto the lifelong companion. Karin did the same with her spear, but curved it so she may keep it stuck between the beams underneath. Santa didn't need to do anything, as he could will himself to be intangible or not. Ikkū used his magnetism to keep himself steady, but had some trouble keeping upright, but nonetheless seemed to be enjoying it. The only problem came from Kirië.

With a sudden screech, Kirië was thrown off the ship, not even given the chance to grab a hold of anything.

"Kirië!" Tõta yelled. Without thinking, he let go of the sword and flew in the direction Kirië had fallen. It didn't take long to fall over the side, nor did it take long to spot the short blonde. Maneuvering himself so he was positioned over her, Tõta prepared to go for a head long dive. With a deep into of air, he turned his body downwards.

While he did his best to keep his eyes on the target, it was difficult to do so. Trying to keep your eyes open while diving in high winds would be difficult for anyone, even for an immortal vampire. To compare it to a reasonable item, a fan would work.

Luckily, due to his unnatural talents, he was able to get close enough to Kirië to grab a hold of her. Holding out his hand, he grabbed her by the wrist (also causing her to let out an 'oof') and pulled her in close to his chest.

It took but a second for Kirië to realize what had happened.

"Tõta!?" Kirië yelled out, her voice being slightly drowned out by the wind. She looked up at his face from where her head lay. "What are you doing!?"

"What!? I'm trying to save you!" Tõta yelled back as he turned them so his back was facing the ground. It wouldn't save Kirië if he didn't do anything extra though. He would need to toss her at the last second so she could land softly on the ground.

"You incompetent! I would survive a fall like this, I'm immortal too, remember!" Kirië yelled at him. "If you hit the ground at this height, who knows what would happen to you! You might be killed before I die so you can't come back!"

"Oh? Uh… Yeah! I didn't know that!" Tõta laughed sheepishly, to which she slapped his head softly. "It was on instinct though. My body moved itself, sorry!"

A small blush formed on her cheeks at that. It wasn't everyday someone told her that they tried to save her on instinct. Anyone would feel flattered at that.

"Anyways, position me so I'll die first! I don't want to have to be the one to explain everything to everyone!" Kirië commanded. Looking past Tõta, she could see the ground drawing near. Unconsciously, she tightened her hold on Tõta and buried her face into his chest. She had never fallen to her death before, and if she were to be honest, it scared her. Death was never an easy thing for her.

Tõta took note of this too. Normally, he would have obeyed her, her commands being like a sort of absolute decision maker for him, but not this time. He could tell that Kirië was scared, and that was something you never see with this girl. Not even when she had died six times to warn him about an assassin, nor when they fought together with Fate did she seem afraid. Something inside him screamed that he must not let her die this time.

Tightening his arms around her, Tõta gave the surprised girl a smile.

"What are you doing you incompetent! Turn us so I'll die first!" Kirië yelled, banging on his chest. Tõta just continued to smile.

"I can't do that."

"Wah!? What the hell are you talking about!?"

"I can't let you die this time! Something is telling me that's a bad idea!"

"You incompetent!" Kirië yelled, his words irritating her while at the same time flattering her. "We don't have time for that! Just turn us now!"

"I told you no, didn't I!?" Tõta grinned. He looked behind him. They were almost to the ground. Almost time to put his plan into action.

"You stubborn fool!" Kirië yelled, beating his chest. Unsurprisingly, it didn't do anything to harm him. Tõta was unbelievably strong, so it would make sense that he could keep such a frail girl in his arms. They were nearing the ground, and she needed to die before they hit the ground. If only she had a way to commit su-

'I swear, his stupidity is rubbing off on me.' Kirië cursed herself. Sterling herself, she opened her mouth, preparing to put pressure on the capsule in her teeth.

"Kirië! Stop!"

Kirië was suddenly interrupted by a tug on her collar. Choking a little, she felt her and Tõta float into the air. Looking up at her savior, it turned out to be no other than Ikkū. Barely catching them, he had to glide close to the ground so as to not give them backlash against the force of gravity. This avoided their untimely demise.

Flying near the ground, Ikkū slowly halted his movement. Looking around for somewhere to land, he spotted a clock tower in the distance. Firing up his boosters, he flew towards it. In no time, they were there, and he set down both if the occupants onto the tower.

Ikkū grabbed onto Kirië shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Kirië! Where was your last save point!?" Ikkū commanded.

"What?" Kirië responded dumbly, shaken by the suddenness of the question. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just answer the question. If I'm wrong about this, then this'll be a nice little joke we can laugh at when we're old." Ikkū said, figuratively of course. The only one who could possibly age in this group was Ikkū himself, and that was if he transferred to a new body.

"T-The last save point was at HQ. Why do you want to know?" At Ikkū's distressed look, Kirië couldn't help but develop a deep feeling if fear. She had only ever seen Ikkū truly upset or fearful a handful of times. One of those times being in the failed loop of in which Fate slaughtered everyone in the party. Even then, it was just a face of distaste. "H-H-Hey, Ikkū, what's wrong? Why w-w-w-won't you let me die? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah! What's going on Ikkū!?" Tõta said loudly, the sense of foreboding absent with him. His optimism always broke through, even in a situation like this. Sometimes Kirië had to curse that about him, even when it was one of his good points. "is something wrong with HQ?"

Ikkū didn't respond, but instead focused his eyes into the distance. Miles away from the island of Academy City, sat a small resort that held a number of individuals, all if that of monsters and Immortals. A sort of get away for those who society hated. An Inn. A home to the Numbers of UQ Holder. And the HQ of UQ Holder.

A few minutes ago, that's what would be HQ. Now, it was a pile of rubble that couldn't even be called an Island.

Ikkū stared for but a moment, before turning to Kirië. It was a sad sight. She seemed to have already guessed what had happened, but was still holding onto some hope that she was wrong. Her tanned skin a deep white, with sweat making its way on her face. Her hands, which were held in a form of prayer, tightly held Each other tightly.

It wouldn't be good to keep the suspense hanging.

"HQ has been destroyed."

\--

 **Story Rant:**

 **Well, not much could be said about this chapter. I guess I should start with this.**

 **Welcome! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this fic (I sound so typical). Anyways, I should say a few things about this pic before I begin.** **This isn't going to be a long lasting story. Well, I dont think so anyways. If requested enough, sure, but right now I'm doing this because I think it would be fun.**

 **I enjoy stories with consequence. That, in my opinion, makes a story. Well, besides character conflict. Without those two, a story would just be one character wanting something, achieving it, and attaining a happy ever after. Nothing really happened. Even a twist at the end wouldn't really make it good, as that would rely on one of the two above.**

 **That brings me to this fic.**

 **During the UQ story, the "Investigation Arc" was the most emotionally impacting one so far. Well, besides the "Mage of the Beginning Vs. Everyone" Arc. Although, that was mostly pulling on the nostalgia strings and making you go "If only this didn't happen." (Seriously I felt literal pain reading through Negi's past and seeing him in pain. It was that compelling).**

 **The "Investigation Arc" though was set up perfectly. It told a sad tale between two friend, and made you feel for them over 30-40 chapters. It handled the character conflict part perfectly and the consequences immensely well. If you don't think so, let's go over a small bit.**

 **During the whole destruction of the world, Santa was shown to be fighting with himself on whether he should let the Hobo-Hunter live or die, while cursing himself for letting the world crumble. He kept questioning himself whether it was worth it to save anybody.**

 **Then I believe the consequences are a bit obvious. The world died, and even when the reset happened, Sayoko still died. Consequences still happen, even when you do good. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.**

 **This brings us to why I wrote this. I myself am not a hardcore Zombie fan. I enjoy the beginning days of The Walking Dead, when it was all about personal issues and just surviving, but beyond that it was always "Meh." 28 Days later and a few survival video games but that was about it. So with the prospect of this specific world dealing with a zombie apocalypse and the aftermath of it caught my interest.**

 **I won't dwelve deep into the specifics if why this world in specific, that's for the personal rant, but I just thought it was a waste to not see how this world dealt with it. Who exactly would survive or take advantage of the situation. What would happen with Negi and Fate, Evangeline and UQ. So I made this fic.** **Now to point out my own flaws.**

 **As you can tell, I'm not that great with words, so I ask you to forgive me, or point them out to me. I would be grateful if people could point me in the right direction on how to word things. Keep in mind I prefer past tense. Or just point out things in general that need to be looked at.**

 **One of the story flaws so far is Kirië's Save Point. In the manga, the save point is near one of the many rest areas in the city district. Me, not wanting to kill off one of my favorite characters right from rhe start, had to move the point to HQ. What happened to HQ? I'm stuck between two things, but I think I'm gonna blame it on someone.**

 **Now the reaction to Kirië's fall and his care for Kirië herself from Tõta. I won't lie, this is sort of my shipping self stepping in with nimble fingers and moving them like puppets, but at the same time not. Tõta is an all around caring person, and at times mindless. To him, even when Kirië and his relationship hadn't even made it that deep yet, he still cared for her.** **To him, at the time I believe, he held her at a respectable level. She, even though at the time, couldn't fight, stood up to Fate himself just to help her friends. To someone as simple as Tõta, that would land her in the "Awesome" category.**

 **For Kirië, I can only guess as to why she was so attached to him. Maybe it was because of those six loops she went through with him, and she saw no matter what, he never changed. Kirië admitted that she liked those who were simple to read and never changed. This was most likely because of her trust issues.**

 **I'm not sure if I'll deepen there friendship into a love interest, for I'm not good with romance. Right now, I'm just thinking on the continuation of this arc and aftermath. I am focusing a character reactions and interactions, but for romance? I don't know. Convince me.**

P **ersonal Rant**

 **I freaking suck at writing. All that stuff above I spent hours writing. Well, that's why I write though, to Improve.**

 **Now I gotta say this, I am not done with Scenario. I don't think I'll stop until I hit the "Father" Arc (Arc 3) Maybe after that arc. Even then I won't be done. I'll be thinking about how to get to "The Floating Island" Arc (Unknown Number). I spent so long developing an OC because Marvel nor DC had this kind if villain. I mostly need to perfect my writing before then because it deals wit a lot of phsycological elements.**

 **Now lets talk about why I wanted to write this so badly.**

 **Ever since I was a kid, I liked Negima. At the time I was a little optimistic kid who enjoyed everything, but was picky. I came across Negima when it was reaching the festival arc, and I was attached to it ever since. I found it awesome how there was a world where Mages, Ninja's, Knights, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Samurai, God, and Demon's were all in one story, and it all made sense. I enjoyed the characters so much I can name the whole class just by descriptions of their attitude.**

I **got so emotionally attached, that when Asuna went to the future, I couldnt stop crying. Even when she came back, I couldn't stop. It hurt.**

T **hen it ended**

I **can't explain how much it hurt reading that last chapter. From a simple Harem to a mystery battle packed story filled with believable characters. It was all gone.**

T **hen UQ Holder was announced.**

 **When I read that it was gonna take 70 years after the events, I already guessed something was up. Why would anything have happened during those 130 years? Well, besides the obvious war that cause Asuna to oversleep, there was nothing else that happened. Then it was Negi's Grandson? Negi was fertile. Something was definitely up. I wouldn't even believe that he was adopted, seeing as Evangeline rescued him.**

I **'m getting off topic. To simplify what I wanna say, I'm trying to say this world means a lot to me. I enjoy everything about Negima, more so than UQ Holder. UQ Holder may be darker and more mysterious, but Negima always makes me smile.**

 **One last thing, I don't think UQ Holder will have a happy ending. Not completely at least. I'm betting Evangeline, Fate, and Negi die, while the everyone goes on with life. Or Tõta gets possessed and is sealed away forever. He does have Asuna's abilities, so I think he'll somehow combat the Mage with that while within him.**


	2. An Hour Old Threat

Ok, **next chapter is up. If you have a question or ideas or something, heck, a conversation is fine, then I usually reply to all comments at the very bottom of the chapter.**

Incedently **thats where I put my reasoning for what happened in the chaoter down there.**

\--

"W-w-w-w-wh-wh-what did you s-s-s-s-sa-say?" Kirië muttered out. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates, her skin as pale as ash. No doubt, fear had gripped her heart, and it had shown. Ikkū considered lying to her, but disregarded that notion. If Kirië didn't here it now, and from him, then there would be no stopping her from killing herself. "D-d-d-d-di-did y-you say HE has b-b-be-been destroyed?"

It hurt seeing her this way. The usually calm and collected Kirië Sakurame was reduced to but a shallow imitation of herself within one, measly sentence. Stuttering, shaking, and with fearful eyes. It was not like her at all. Crouching, Ikkū placed his hands on Kirië and forced her too look into his eyes.

Even Tõta, the usually cheerful teen looked like he was about to bust a kidney. His skin turned slightly paler, but he was reining in his worry fairly well. Impressive.

"Kirië, I need you to calm down." Ikkū said, as he mimicked breathing. Being a robot had many advantages and drawbacks. One of the advantages were the need for oxygen. It came in handy when dealing with smoke or gas. While it did hinder his sense of smell, on the flip side he had an application to mirror surrounding smells. After a minute of Kirië trying to control her breathing, Kirië had seemed to calm down. Still, she remained fearful. "Yes, HQ has been destroyed. I'm not sure by what, but during the final seconds of HQ, my third body sensed a impact in the inns courtyard. If it was a bomb detonating or someone attacking, I'm not sure."

"Someone attacked HQ!?" Tõta yelled a little too loudly for his for his sensors, and for Kirië too it seemed. Her shaking seemed to intensify by Tõta's yell. Looks like he wasn't that impressive. "Is Yukihime alright!? What about Jinbei and that rude looking dude with the glasses!? Are the kids o-!?"

"Tõta!" Ikkū yelled, causing both Kirië and said boy to flinch heavily. "I need you to calm down! When the magical and electronic interference subside, we'll try getting in touch then, but for now I need you to calm down!"

"B-but I need to know how the others are doing! If we're stuck in this time, then we need to get everybody together!" Tõta loudly replied.

"Does it look like I don't know that, Tõta!?" Ikkū yelled back. It wasn't that Tõta was being a nuicance, but it was irritating that he was stating the obvious. "We can't do anything about that until the electronic interference is restored! Until then, it's our job t-"

"Hck! Kuff, ack!"

A sudden wheezing sound caught their attention. A sickly series of coughs followed suite. Ikkū and Tõta stopped their bickering to look in the direction of the odd sound.

As stated before, Kirië skin had turn an ashen gray when news of what happened to HQ rendered in her mind. For her, HQ was more than just a base of operations. HQ had been her home for a majority of her life. A place where she could find safety in no matter the situation. A shelter that she was happy to support. To hear that it had been destroyed was more of a shock to her system than it would have been to anyone else. Even the Queen of Darkness herself didn't have as much love for UQ than Kirië Sakurame.

So when she heard that it had been destroyed, her first emotion was disbelief. Kirië refused to believe the words of Ikkū Ameya, even though he had proven himself to be a reliable source of information time and again. The first thing she did was check the status of HQ's security feed. Being the main source of income for UQ, she had certain privileges other didn't. When nothing picked up, her worry increased. That was until she realized that Sayoko had jammed the magical and electronic waves, and it was still in affect. She calmed down a bit after that.

That was until she looked in the direction of her home.

Kirië, like any proud shut-in, knew by heart where her home was. She didn't need any fancy gadgets or magical items to tell her the direction and how to get to her home. It was sort of like a cat sense, to always know where your home lies.

And her home laid in a pile of fire and smoke.

Having her worst fears founded, (without any proof) was like a bomb for her. Not only that, but as it stood, if her home was gone, so was her save point. No longer was she able to go back and fix the mistakes of everyone around her. No longer was she able to revive all the dead. No longer will she be able to lay in her bed and check her stock price, the only thing that never betrayed her. No longer was her money of any use. No longer was she of any use.

So with the onset of this revelation came a price.

Suddenly, with her heart beating as fast as a bullet train, her breath choked. Her vision blurred and her legs buckled under her weight. Her ears rang and her body shook.

Kirië Sakurame dropped.

"Huh? Kirië!?" Tõta yelled in worry. The dark haired boy was fast enough the blonde teen. Kneeling down, he laid the shaking girl as gently as he could on the tower. "Hey! Hey! What's going on!? Are you alright Kirië!?"

"Hold on Tõta!" Ikkū said as he crouched over Kirië. Placing his hand on top of Kirië's head, he put on a look of concentration. With a sudden 'Tsk' he removed his hand and gave Tõta a stern look. "Tõta, I'm going to have to ask that you don't make any sudden movements. What I'm about to tell you might shock you, but please remain as calm as you can."

It took but a second for Tõta to close his lips as tightly as he could. Tõta was a predictable kid, so even though he was outwardly prepared, on the inside he was most likely a ticking time bomb. Ikkū didn't really have a choice but to tell Tõta though. Kirië needed treatment, especially in this situation.

"Kirië is having a panic attack right now." Ikkū said, fully prepared for Tõta's outburst. Surprisingly, all Tõta did was widen his eyes in surprise. Thank God for that. "Tõta, I need you to listen to me for a bit. Right now, we are in a serious situation. HQ has been demolished and as far as we know, we're the last of the numbers. Until we're given permission by Yukihime that we're finished, we still have a job to do." Ikkū looked at the black cloud then back to Kirië, who shook like a wet cat, then to Tõta. "We don't have time to sit around. That cloud is coming closer and Kirië is in no position to move around."

"W-what's wrong with the cloud? Is it dangerous?" Tõta asked, the size of it intimidating him.

"Possibly. I can't tell right now, but there is a chance that cloud is of a nuclear variety." Ikkū said. Over the many years since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear warfare had become a thing of a distant memory. The deterrent that the world seem to have worked, and the only wars that seems to sprout were terrorism and proxy battles. Besides that, the world seemed to be at peace.

Even though that was the case, it didn't stop the nation's if the war from developing better and deadlier technology. With the revelation of magic, it seemed to kick that up into high gear. Bullets became deadlier, swords and other medieval weapons became a choice weapon for most die to their variety in styles and enchantments established by an existing magical company.

Of course, it didn't stop there. Weapons of a worldwide scale were established. These kinds of weapons were made specifically for the Mage of the Beginning, but it still was a threatening presence for the minority that knew.

Through all of that, nuclear weaponry was still a main threat that was kept. Not only was the explosive power powerful enough to bend the knees of Jack Rakan, the aftermath was a perfect way to wipe away a population.

In one way, the main reason why it was kept could be described in one word.

Biological warfare.

"N-Nuclear?" Tõta stuttered questioningly. Tõta, sadly, was not that much of a knowledge freak, so knowledge of a nuclear catastrophe would obviously be lost on him. Ikkū understood this though.

"Yes. Tõta, do you know what happens when a Nuke goes off?" Tõta shook his head no. "Ok. I will keep this short, so listen carefully. When a Nuke drops, not only is the area it was dropped destroyed, the surrounding area is also covered in a black cloud that burns any living thing." That was the simplified version of it.

"W-What!? That's horrible!" Tõta yelled. Ikkū glared at him. Tõta forced himself to be quieter. "W-Why would anyone do that!?"

"To wipe out a population." Ikkū said. "Most likely whoever dropped the bomb was thinking about the zombie problem, not how to keep everyone alive. It's a horrible thing to do, but a logical thing to do."

"B-but we stopped Sayoko! The zombies should be dead!" Tõta said.

"They probably dropped the bomb before we stopped her. Magical effects take awhile to diminish, so that may also be a cause." Ikkū said. Looking at Tõta, they needed to get back on track. "That being said, do you see why we need to hurry? We need to evacuate everyone before the radiation gets to us. We can't move though because of Kirië's state. I need you to do something so we can get moving."

"Of course!"

Ikkū reached behind him, before taking out a price of paper. Grabbing it, Tõta took note that it was a picture of a map. A arrow pointed at what seemed to be the tower, with the words 'START' that connected to a line that ran a few good miles away, to a word with a giant circle with the words 'FINISH' drawn in bright red. On the back of the paper had a chibi version of Ikkū pointing to a few words-

Antidepressants- Paxil, Prozac or Zoloft.

Benzodiazepines- Ativan, Valium, or Xanax.

"I need you to go to a pharmacy and get any number of those. If possible, all of them and anymore in stock. Later, we might need to scavenge supplies. I'm sure nobody has yet, so it will be a good idea to grab as much as we can."

"Right!" And with that short answer, a look around the tower, and a kick of his feet, Tõta was off. Ikkū watched him for but a second before concentrating on the task at hand.

Kirië needed to calm down less her situation grows worse.

"Hey, Kirië." Ikkū whispered softly. Carefully, he moved as slowly as he could. Any sudden movements or loud noises could jeopardize the situation. "It's me, Ikkū, can you hear me?" By the way she seemed to be looking at him, he could take that as a yes. "I'm going to need you to do a favor for me, okay Kirië? I'm going to need to trust me here and listen to everything I say." Kirië's eyes seemed more fearful for some reason. Not good. "Okay, can you please lift your arm?"

\--

No one could ever say Tõta Konoe was good with direction without lying their ass off. Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, Tõta kept trying and failing to run and follow the directions. Due to the speed he was going, it made it extremely difficult. He could have easily stopped and read the map, but chose against that. If Kirië was in a serious condition, he didn't have time to screw around.

"Shit!" Tõta screamed as he tumbled a little. Ever since Sayoko's power had diminished, corpses lined the streets of the once great Academy City. Even the rooftops weren't spared, as the Zombies had the ability to climb the massive buildings. Some students and teachers could still be seen comforting each other or doing something every now and then. Looking at them really did heart his heart a little. Knowing that if he had been even a little faster, or competent, then many more lives could have been saved.

'Now's not the time to be thinking like that! Kirië's in trouble and she needs my help!' Tõta shook his head as he flipped around the corner. The wall running ability came in handy when he wasn't able to make it to a certain building or just needed a quick turn.

Doing just that, he concentrated his feet like he would with flash stepping and ran. Unfortunately he wasn't that proficient in it, only having done it one other time, so whenever he touched the wall, it cracked just a little. Tõta vowed to practice with this more later.

"Hup!" Jumping off the wall to the adjacent building, he continued to run. 'I wonder how Kurõmaru and the others are doing?' Tõta thought to himself. When he had jumped after Kirië, he wasn't really thinking. He should have known she would be alright because of her ability, but his instincts had just taken over and the next thing he knew, he was preparing to throw Kirië back into the air. "Ah! I even left my sword on the blimp! Hopefully someone grabs it for me. And a new shirt or blazer to go with it!"

With another jump, he decided it was time again to check his surroundings. Stopping, he took a glance at his map, then the streets below him. 'From the looks if it, I'm almost there!' Tõta thought triumphantly. Running across some rooftops, he gave a mighty shout in excitement. It was weird, just a few months ago he was hiding out in the living room, ready to pounce on Yukihime. Now, he was dealing with an aftermath of a Zombie apocalypse that his team had failed to stop while jumping across rooftops. Heck! Just two days ago him, Ikkū and Kurõmaru were fighting a ghost on top of skyscrapers in the outskirts of the capital! If this wasn't an upgrade from his time with Yukihime, he didn't know what was.

It was so unreal.

"Kyaaaaaa!"

"Huh? What was that?" Tõta thought out loud, landing on a rooftop. "It sounded like a scream! Where did it come from?"

Tõta didn't need to wait long before another scream was heard. A series of bangs, reminiscent of fighting, was also in the mix. Following the sound, he came across what could be described as a disturbing sight.

Down on the street below, in front of a chained shop, was 5 guys surrounding a girl and what looked like a teacher. The teacher was down, was down, his nose bleeding and the girl looked to be being… ugh, groped.

That did not fly well with Tõta.

"Hey!? What the hell are you doing!" Tõta yelled, grabbing the attention of everyone below him. The five man group stopped what they were doing to give Tõta a look, giving the girl a chance to break free and run to the downed teacher.

Thug 1 looked at Thug 2 and 3, who just gave a shrug. Thug 1 looked up at where Tõta was, cupping his mouth so he was loud enough.

"What do you mean!? We're just trying to help this poor girl get back home!" Thug 1 yelled. 4 and 5 gave a chuckle while 3 looked a little uncomfortable and 2 started to walk to the girl.

"They're lying! They tried to kill Mr.-" She was cut off by a punch from Thug 2. She was knocked a back a bit, her nose bleeding.

"Shut it bitch! You're makin-" Thug 2 never got a chance to finish that sentence.

Without warning, Tõta slammed a knee into Thug 2's face. Being proficient in combat, Tõta grabbed 2 by the head and spun himself on it. Using his head as an object, he forced himself to jump between 2 and 1. Kicking 1's face in, he crouched and gave 5 an uppercut. 4 tried to grab him from behind, but Tõta did a backflip over 4 and kicked him in the back. 3 stood there shaking, before running, leaving his friends behind.

None of the thugs moved, having been knocked our by Tõta. Tõta himself flexed his right arm and fingers. It was strange, usually he wasn't this good at fighting. Usually he would have been caught by a move like what 4 had pulled, but this time he did something that could be compared to Karin's way of fighting. Maybe the fight with Kurõmaru on the blimp did something to his fighting prowess.

"I still need to beat him up for holding back on me during training." Tõta muttered to himself. It still pissed him off that Kurõmaru had been holding back. They were guys! You don't hold back on Each other during a fight!

"U-uhm!" A voice interrupted his brooding. Blankly looking over, he noticed that it was the girl he just saved. "T-th-thank you f-for saving me!"

Tõta stared at her for a second, unsure how to process this. His mind was still on the topic of Kurõmaru or course, so why wouldn't he respond slower than usual. Jumping, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ah! It's no problem! I just can't stand guys like this-" Tõta motioned towards the downed guys. "-who take advantage of the situation to do anything they want. Makes me sick!"

"O-o-oh..." She stuttered out. He gave her a weird look before shaking his head. As much as he wanted to help out, he needed that medicine.

"Anyways, will you be alright? I sorta need to go." Tõta said guiltily. He felt bad for this but it needed to be done. Kirië could die without him. 'Wait? Wouldn't she just respawn? Why do I need to do this!'

"O-oh! Yes!" She hurriedly got up before bowing. "Thank you for all your help!"

"No problem!" Tõta said, running off. "Be careful!"

With that, he was off.

The girl gave a loud sigh. She wasn't good with boys, especially those loud assertive types like him. That's what drew her into her teacher, who was always soft spoken and docile. 'Ugh… I need to grow out of this f-'

"H-Hey…" A voice interrupted her thoughts. Looking up, it was the boy from just a second earlier. Scratching the back of his head, he sheepishly held out a piece of paper. "Do you know where this is? I'm a little lost…"

\--

"While this form of griping is usually saved for Kirië, I must ask, can you hurry up?"

"I-I'm going a-as fast as I can! Y-You girls are just so heavy!"

"Are you calling two lovely ladies fat, Santa? That isn't very courteous of you."

"I-I'm not a girl!"

"Nobody asked."

"Wait, Kurõmaru is a girl!?"

"No! I'm a boy!"

"Kurõmaru is just in denial. She is trying to hide her true feelings for Tõta."

"K-Karin! Stop telling these lies!"

"H-Hey, guys! Can you stop it! I don't want to drop you!"

With a grunt, Santa reaffirmed his grip on the two(one?) Girls.

After the impact of the explosion from… whatever that was, the three remaining immortals had taken it upon themselves to rightfully freak out over what happened to the other three. Well, all but one.

The Leader, Karin Yuuki, had reacted differently than the other two. Instead of freaking out over the disappearance of Tõta (Kurõmaru equally worried for Kirië and Ikkū, while Santa only really knew Tõta), Karin took the chance to dream of the insolent stones demise. Oh how lovely it would be if he had crushed every bone in his body, and was unable to move for the next day.

Ah. Such a lovely dream indeed.

But as much as she wanted to just wait until the blimp landed to do anything, she still had a job to do. Their job of neutralizing the threat, overall, was a failure. Sure, they succeeded in doing so, but at the cost of many lives. To remedy this, the least they could do was evacuate the citizens of Academy City.

With that, Karin had taken charge of the situation. Being a leader for most of the missions she was assigned, it wasn't that difficult to convince the two to fall in line. The first order of business was to get down from the blimp. Utilizing the Revenant abilities from abilities of Santa Sasaki, they were able to get down.

Well, it was more threatening than it sounded, seeing as Santa had the strength of a squirrel.

"For a spirit that has the power to take down four numbers at the same time, you're surprisingly weak." Karin noted, causing Santa's face to take a downcast look.

"I never exercised when I was alive and during the years I was dead. I spent most of my time playing games and hacking into UQ HOLDER and other shady businesses." Santa admitted, much to the surprise to Karin and Kurõmaru. Someone in a bedroom was able to hack a business that was an equivalent to the Yakuza without being noticed? That was impressive.

"You can hack into security like that, Santa?" Kurõmaru questioned, giving a smile to him. "That's really cool! Especially how you did it in your room!" Santa gave a heavy blush at the compliment.

"O-oh! It's nothing special! It's just one of my abilities as a Revenant." Santa said sheepishly.

"Oh? One of your abilities?" Karin questioned, giving him a blank look. In reality, she found this interesting.

"Y-Yeah! I call it 'Electronic Assimilation!' It allows me to hack into anything I want and control any kind of electronic device!" Santa said proudly. He never got to show it off to anyone, having detested anyone who lived. "That's how I found out your guys' abilities!"

"Hmm. This may become a useful skill in later operations." Karin noted, thinking of the possibilities. Many times in her line of work required her to hack into a building. Her skills being complete shit in the electronic field, it could definitely come in handy. Especially since Ikkū was the one who maintained cyber security for UQ.

"A-Ah! Actually, K-Karin, I have a-a question." Karin gave Santa a look that practically told him to continue. "W-Well, I might be looking too deep into this, b-but how old is Tõta?"

"Hmm? Why do you ask?" Karin asked, not answering the question. She honestly didn't care of that sack of flesh, but this question did intrigue her.

"W-well, when I was looking through UQ_HOLDER documents on you guys, something stood out. Knowing who Ikkū is now, I know he wouldn't allow a glitch to stand out."

"Yes? Your point?" Karin said impatiently. She might have asked why, but just a simple 'I'm curious' would have sufficed.

"W-well, when I looked at Tõta's profile, everything seemed to fit his real life description, Except his age." Santa said, causing Karin to sigh, and Kurõmaru a questioning look.

"What do you mean by that, Santa?" Kurõmaru asked.

"He obviously doesn't understand that Immortals don't age physically. Except for those who rebirth like a phoenix obviously." Karin answered, writing this topic off as needless chatter.

"But that wouldn't make sense, Karin. Tõta is 13 years old, and his appearance matches his body." Kurõmaru said, startling Santa. Karin gave him a 'So what?' look. "So why would Ikkū leave in such a obvious mistake? Surely he must have noticed something saying he was a hundred years old or something."

"Oh? Then maybe he had his memory erased of his life beforehand. From what I understand, two years ago Tõta lost his memory right?" Karin deduced, to which Kurõmaru nodded. They were nearing the ground now. "If that's the case, I do have to question why Yukihime went to live with him for two years."

"W-well, um, it didn't say that he was a hundred years old-" Santa interrupted, nearing the ground. Setting the two down, he continued to float as Karin dusted herself off and Kurõmaru shifted his hold on Tõta's blade, having picked it up before they disembarked on Santa. "-it said he was four years old."

"What!?" Kurõmaru blanched, while Karin's eyes widen to a ridiculous size. "What did you say?"

"U-Uhm! T-th-that his profile said he was four years old!?" Santa stammered out. He wasn't used to this kind of social interaction yet, so it was a bit strange.

Both Kurõmaru and Karin shared a look of disbelief. Kurõmaru took to asking more questions, like 'Are you sure' or 'Do you have any proof?' Karin on the other hand took to judging Santa, to see if he was lying. After but a minute, she had deduced he wasn't, or at least was just seeing things.

'It's very unlikely that Ikkū would make a mistake that simple, even with the mentality of a 13 year old.' Karin thought, adopting a thinking pose. 'It is also likely that Ikkū wasn't even the one to input that information. While Ikkū does monitor the security, he isn't the only one with access to the database. Most likely the one who did this was Yukihime herself, and knowing her and her tendencies, she would have double checked for any mistakes. So was his four years of age intentional?'

"Santa, Kurõmaru." Karin spoke up, catching the attention of the Revenant and Immortal. "I have to ask that you keep this a secret to yourself for the time being. Likely this source of information is from Yukihime herself, so in all likely hood, this was intentional."

"W-What!? Y-You believe this Karin!?" Kurõmaru spoke up, challenging her. "I'm sorry Santa, but I don't believe you. How can Tõta be 4 when he looks like he's almost 15? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Kurõmaru, didn't Tõta lose his memories two years ago?" Kurõmaru flinched. That was true. "As it happened, that was also around the same time Yukihime found Tõta. His parents also died by the hands of Fate Averruncus himself to which he admitted when we questioned him. So that brings up, why did he do that? Why would he hunt down some random civilians and murder them in cold blood? What reason would he have to do that?"

"I… He!... B-but… W-why?" Kurõmaru asked, angered that he couldn't find a reason for why Fate did what he did. Karin stared at him for a second before sighing. There was no point in this.

"It seems that our comrade has more to him than meets the eye. Ikkū possibly knows what Tõta's secret is, so we'll have to question him until the time comes. If he doesn't know, then Yukihime will."

"T-then let's go find him!" Santa said eagerly, this mystery eating him out. "W-We need to go find t-them anyways!"

"No." Karin objected. "As much as I want to find out, we have a job to do." She looked at Kurõmaru, "Well, us two do. We need to evacuate as many civilians as we can. Santa here doesn't need too, seeing how he isn't a number."

"Y-Yeah! While you guys h-help civilians, I can I-look for Big Bro and everyone else!" Santa said as he prepared to lift.

"Well, yes. I guess if you want more civilians to die because of you." Karin said. Santa suddenly stopped, a shocked look on his face. Kurõmaru looked at her with the same amount of Astonishment.

"W-What d-d-do you m-m-m-me-mean?" Santa stuttered, looking at Karin with a fearful gaze. Kurõmaru looked between Karin and Santa, a look of disbelief still upon his face.

'You better not-'

"Well, from what I can understand, weren't you the one who pushed Sayoko to do this. From what Ikkū told me, you even confessed that you wished for the world to end."

"Karin!" Kurõmaru yelled, interrupting her. This was not okay. "Santa couldn't control what Sayoko did! He had no idea that Sayoko was actually going to kill this many people!"

"That may be so, but he needs to be held accountable. Even if we can rewind time at a later date, it would mean nothing if Santa didn't learn from his mistakes."

"T-That's not fair!" Kurõmaru yelled. It wasn't right to place the blame on someone who didn't deserve it.

"I-I-I-I- D-d-didn't t-think she cou-could actually do it! I-I was just fed up w-w-with everyone picking on the weak! What's so wrong with that!?" Santa yelled through tear filled eyes.

"Nothing is wrong with that. I encourage the weak to stand up for themselves." Karin said with a frown. "But it that involves injuring bystanders, then it's my job to put an end to that."

"Enough, Karin!" Kurõmaru yelled in anger. "Santa understands what he did was wrong! Let's just find everyone else and just go back to the past!"

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea." Karin said, as she took a seat on the railing of the building. She looked around, as if trying to find an answer to all her problems, but no matter where she looked, only smoke filled the air.

"W-what do you mean?" Santa asked, his tears still running with guilt.

"Just a bunch, but I have a feeling that if we were to look for them, we wouldn't be able to find them."

"W-what makes you say that?" Santa asked

"Well, I'm just going on a guess here, but if Ikkū wanted to find us, he would have by now. There must be a reason for that." Karin theorized. Little did she know it was because of Kirië. Kurõmaru gave a grunt of displeasure while Santa looked down cast. "In the mean time, I think it would be a good idea to help civilians in the area. While they might not matter once we travel back, they are still human lives. Besides, we don't even know if we are actually resetting time."

This was a topic that not many in the group liked to talk about. When Kirië had held a meeting to discuss her ability after the battle with Fate, she had given a lecture to everyone in the group. Especially Ikkū who put the lives of many civilians in danger. When Ikkū tried to defend himself, Kirië had shut him up by explaining her theory that her ability might not save the people of that timeline, but just themselves.

That gave everyone a bad taste in their mouth.

"So I finally ask, will you help us, Santa Sasaki?" Karin asked reaching out a hand to Santa. He looked at it, tears still lining his cheeks. "While you can't revive the dead, the least you can do is help those who live now. To redeem yourself of the sins of your friend."

Santa seemed to stare at it for a bit, before he wiped his eyes. Landing on the ground, he glanced at the hand and back to Karin's faces. Biting his lip, he grabbed Karin's hand firmly, giving a weak smile.

"I'm glad." Karin smiled at him, causing him to blush. While he didn't feel comfortable with her yet, he had to admit she was very pretty. "Thank you, Santa." Letting go, she looked around. "Anyways, I think it would be a good idea to start immiedetly. We don't have the luxury of wasting time."

"A-actually!" Santa spoke up, grabbing the attention of the two. While Kurõmaru didn't completely agree with Karin on blaming Santa for Sayoko, he was glad Santa was helping. "I might know s-some people t-that might n-need help!"

"Oh?"

\--

It didn't take that long to make it to the bridge. If anything, Santa could have flown there faster than everyone else, but he wanted to lead Kurõmaru and Karin there. Besides, with the dead having been killed, there really was no rush to save them.

In total, it probably took five minutes to get there.

The reception he got when he arrived was more than he expected.

Cheers, whistles, and a chorus of 'Thank You' made its way to his ears. As soon as he landed, he was surrounded by multiple civilians, giving their thanks, promises that they would return the favor somehow.

In total, it took ten minutes for the crowd to calm down. In the meantime, Karin and Kurõmaru sat back and watched the show. Both of them thought he deserved it. Even Karin.

She didn't necessarily blame Tõta for what happened, but it was a fact that he had a hand to play in it. She just believed he needed to man up and take responsibility, and if a crowd of civilians cheered for him, so be it. There was no reason for them to know the truth.

After the crowd calmed and the civilians went back to their business, it just left team UQ and the mages who helped defend the civilians, minus the two sisters. They were still tending to the younger ones wound.

"Hey! Kid! Nice job out there!" One of the girls, a black haired teen, called out to him, slapping him on the back. "When you flew off saying you were going to put an end to this, I honestly didn't believe you! You did a good job!" She leaned into his face, making him uncomfortable. "You gotta tell me; how'd ya do it? What kind a magic spell did you use!?"

"I-I d-didn't use a magic spell! I-I just dealt with the one w- Mgh Mgh!" Santa said, but was stopped by Karin who covered his mouth.

"It was a wide spread incantation that put down the Zombies." Karin explained, grabbing the attention of the student mages.

"Ah! Hey! Your that girl with that one kid! The one who was doing illegal duels!" She yelled pointing at Karin, who shook her head. The girl then pointed to Kurõmaru. "And you're the other girl that's always following him around!"

"I'm not a girl!" Kurõmaru defended.

"Yes, and your point?" Karin said coldly, removing her hand off of Santa. "As it is now, I don't believe that I'll be able to serve detention with the state the school is in right now."

The raven haired girl couldn't help but flinch by the words that left Karin's mouth. Those words struck deep, and reasonably so too. Most likely, in the girls case, she was probably goofing off with her friends just hours prior. Now? They were all most likely dead.

"Hey! You don't have to be so rude about it!" A boy, with familiar spikey Gray hair called to Karin. She immiedetly recognized him as the 'First-Rater' who dueled Tõta. His lackey followed closely behind. He seemed to be upset, if his appearance was anything to go by. "She was just pointing you guys out, is that so wrong?"

"No, that is naturally fine. So is my comment about how I won't be able to serve detention for the time being." Karin said. "I'm just stating facts."

"True, but do you have to be such a uptight prick about it?" A short dark haired teen called out to her. Walking over, he gave her a tired glare. "I don't know what's your deal, but you need to calm down."

"He's right Karin." Kurõmaru spoke up, confronting her. "You've been acting weird ever since the we were separated from the others. You have reprimanded Santa on something he hasn't even done, now you're being rude to someone just because someone pointed out we were with Tõta." Kurõmaru said worriedly. Walking up to her, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course. Everything is fine, Kurõmaru." Karin denied, removing his hand from her shoulder. "I am just in no mood to fool around. We need to get these civilians out of Academy City as soon as possible. Must I repeat our reasons for doing so?" Karin asked.

"No, I know why, but you don't need to be so rude about it." Kurõmaru said, motioning towards the civilians inspecting the large ship on the bridge. "Wouldn't it be more beneficial for us if we go about it in a kind manner? That way we gain their trust?"

"Yeah! What the chick said!" The black hair girl said, putting her arms around Kurõmaru, her cheer making a comeback, even with the situation they were in.

"I'm not a girl!" Kurõmaru yelled at the teen, to which she gave him a suspicious look.

"Are you sure?" The girl asked suspiciously.

"Yes!"

Karin didn't respond, instead adopting her thinking pose. Maybe what Kurõmaru said rang an air of truth to it? Was she going about this all wrong? Looking over to the group that continued to harass Kurõmaru, she gave a small smile. Maybe he was right? This was her first time in a situation like this after all, and if she remembered correctly, Kurõmaru had done something similar in the past.

Sighing, she relented. Karin decided to follow Kurõmaru's lead on this one.

Well, maybe.

"Kyaaaaa!" A blood curdling scream caught everyone's attention. Off near the boat, the scream came. Almost all at once, the civilians ran, screaming in a distress cry that could frighten the studious of man.

"What's going on!?" Kurõmaru yelled, ignored by the masses. One even pushed him to the ground, to which he had to shield himself from being trampled on.

The same went for the others, except for a big bald guy, Karin, Santa and a few others. As they waited for the wave to pass, they were kept wondering, what was going on? What could possibly send fear in those who had just survived a zombie apocalypse?

As the crowd passed, they got their answer.

Held in hand, with the others blood running down their neck, was a woman. Clad in purple, her eyes bloodshot from strain, and teeth as sharp as a wolf, was an undead.

"Hey! Didn't you say you took care of that, Kid!?"

\--

Note! **All 'OC's' that appear in this and future chapters are drawn in the official manga. Unless I say they aren't, I consider them apart of the actual Canon. I just take their dialogues, and appearances and make something out of it. Only three have an in canon name, so I'll have to name them myself for now.**

You **can find them on Chapter 56 page 13. Any other characters I think will be useful I will use. I hope thats fine.**

 ** _Story Gripe:_**

Honestly, **I think I could have written this better. Halfway through, I stopped writing in detail and in this poetic tone that I myself enjoyed. That was partly because I didn't expect it to take this long to write. I initially intended for it to get straight to the point and be short. When I noticed I was taking so long, I sorta just focused more on picking up the pace. I'll do my best to hold in those temptations from now on, but the chapters may be shorter, if that's fine with you guys.**

So, **here's some things I should make clear. I write in a "Here's what's gonna happen, and here's how they act during and react after the event" style. So I have all these events planned out, but the characters emotions and personalities are used to get there. I think that keeps the story moving while keeping the characters intact. That being said, I need to point out some of the characters reactions.**

First **is Kirië. From what I understand, Kirië, on the inside, is the most emotionally unstable of the group. She is shown to be yelling at everyone and secludes herself in her tower, fearful of interacting with others. Even with Ikkū, when we first see him with her, she even acted like she wanted no part of what the squad was doing. But even with that, she wants to be useful to those around her. Being the main source of income for UQ_HOLDER should say something. She could have easily ran off somewhere else, probably the tower, and screwed off.**

So **when she realizes the place she worked so hard to keep is gone, what do you think her reaction would be? First, she would assume everyone there was dead. Second, the thing that didn't betray her all her life, money, was useless to her friends was gone, she in the end was useless. Not to also mention her save point was gone. She, in the end will start jumping to conclusions, thus panic attack.**

For **Tõta, right NIW he is acting cheery, but that's because the event hasn't really hit him yet. Earlier in the arc, he was shown to have a distaste for dead bodies, and was visibly shaken for awhile afterwards. Only after the arc, during the bathhouse he did admit that all those dead bodies and just seeing people die shake him up. I'm not sure when he'll break down, but for now he's a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode.**

For **Ikkū, he was acting as the primary leader for the time being. There isn't much to say on his part besides I am just making in freaking useful as hell. That's mostly because I find it funny. I mean, reread UQ_HOLDER and tell me the times he was useful besides fight Fate? Actually, you know what? That hurts more than its funny**.

Next **is Santa. Again, not much to say except for his very canon guilt for what happened to the world.**

Then **there's Kurõmaru. He's mostly taking this whole scenario in stride, having probably been through this before. He stated that he has seen dead bodies before, but we don't know where. I'm sure we will find out when he's confronted by his family and other immortal hunters. If that doesn't happen, it'll be a damn shame. This doesn't mean it doesn't affect him though, he's just focusing on the now and not the past, unlike Tõta whose mind are stuck on the ones who died, and not the ones dying.**

Finally, **and the most odd one out, is Karin. Now this one, I admit, was instinct writing, but when I think back on it, this is probably how she would act. She's probably realized by now something happened to HQ, but is doing her best to keep it in. Sadly, this isn't really working out as shown how she's being a bitch to everyone. She's even thinking of following Kurõmaru's lead, and letting him be leader, even though he's a rookie. Her love for Yukihime is eternal, and it shows here in worry. Also with the fact that Ikkū hasn't come fore them yet and they are stuck in a zombie apocalypse.**

 ** _Personal Gripe:_**

Ok, **so I admit, UQ Holder isn't following the manga straight on, and that does bother me, but I realize that this show is only having 8 episodes with 3 OVA's. It sucks, but Santa is gonna become UQ Holders version of Negima's Kotarou. He probably won't show up until future iterations. And to be completely honest, I'm fine with that.**

Don't **get me wrong, I want both Negima and UQ Holder to have anime that follow the manga directly, but woth all of Ken's works, it is cursed. It's too bad, because both series have beautiful sights, like the Kingdom of Ostia and Fates Palace. Both of the series festivals. It hurts that most of the fights won't be animated either. Like Negi vs Takamichi, Negi vs Chao, Negi vs Nagi, Negi and Kotarou vs Rakan, Rakan vs Fate, Setsuna vs Tsukiomi, Negi-Nodaka-Kotarou vs Fate, Negi vs Bounty Hunters, Negi vs Fate (One-One), Setsuna vs Evangeline, Setsuna vs Negi, Asuna vs Setsuna, Kotarou vs Al. Chisame vs Chachamaru, Zazie sister vs Mana, Kaede vs Mana, And that's just Negima's side.**

US Holder- **Santa vs Sayoko, Tõta-Kurõmaru-Karin vs Cyborg man, Tõta-Kurõmaru vs basement monsters, Tõta vs Cutlass, Kirië-Santa-Kurõmaru vs Cutlass, UQ Holder and friends vs The Mage of the Beginning party (seriously op, please nerf so it's feasible the good guys will win), Fat Woman vs Tõta, Chamo vs Kirië-Tõta, Negi's Party (Ala Alba) vs Mage of the Beginning (Fate series), Ruin vs Tõta-Kurõmaru-Santa-Kirië, and every future fight in that tournament and beyond (cause we all know it won't end after the tournament arc. 4 months when it took 8 just for Tõta to be able to fight against Negi for a second? Pfft, yeah right. Ken is able to make believable power ups as shown with Negima. The problem lies in that Negi spent years during that one year trying to better himself. Tõta will need to do the same if he wants to stand a chance. Same with everyone else, seeing as Nodoka now knows how to fight)**

Besides **that, I'm happy the way it's going. Beggars can't be choosers.**


End file.
